Love Refound
by: E Walk
(© 2008 by the Author)
 

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 10

 We’ll Show You

Why did I ever become a school psychologist?  It’s only Tuesday and I’m exhausted.  Between taking care of the horses and doing testing  on children and then having two staffings every day with parents, I’m absolutely exhausted.  When I got home I grabbed a T.V. dinner and zapped it in the microwave.  After I ate, I went to stables to take care of the horses since Spring had to go to a track meet with the girls’ track team because she was one of the coaches.

When I got into the house, I looked at my briefcase and I won’t tell you what I said.  Instead I took a bubble bath and was reading the latest Jan Karon novel I had.  I must have fallen asleep because I was awakened by Spring knocking on the door, “Autumn, Doug is on the phone.”

I went to the kitchen, “Hi Doug, I didn’t expect you to call tonight.  I was in bed reading.”

Doug let that comment pass, “The reason I called is, that my parents are coming down to meet you this weekend.  We’ll be arriving about five in the afternoon on Friday.  Are we going to be in a competition this weekend?  I hope so.  We need to beat Trevor and Spring’s bottoms.  I’ve already talked to Uncle Howie and he has registered me.”

I started to laugh, “Doug, would you please slow down?  Do you realize how much information you packed into one breath?”

“Let me get this straight.  Your parents are coming down to inspect me to see if I might be a suitable wife for their son, is that correct?  Isn’t this a little premature considering the fact that we have known each other for all of five days?”

Howie was laughing, “Actually, my Mother is interested in checking to see how Uncle Howie and Mr. Robert Nixon are getting on.  Plus, she is enthralled with the fact that Mr. Nixon’s sons and wife have no problem with what has happened.  I guess I forgot to tell you that my Mother has a doctorate in psychology, and she is really excited to meet you.  She is hoping that you might lead me to the altar.  Oh by the way, Austin and Trevor will be staying with you and Spring since Uncle Howie and Mr. Nixon are running out of rooms.  Did you know that Mr. Nixon has moved his personal belongings to Uncle Howie’s house?”

“Doug, slow down.  You are beginning to sound like a teenage girl the way you are talking. Do you suppose that we could talk about one thing at a time?”

Doug replied, “Okay where do you want to start?”

“How did you find out that Mr. Nixon had moved in with Mr. Willingham?   You live almost a hundred miles away and I didn’t even know it, and I live three miles away from Mr. Willingham’s spread?”

Doug was laughing, “Easy, my dear Autumn, Trevor and Trent called me to tell me, since they couldn’t get in touch with you.  I guess this is a guy thing.”

I had a million questions, “Why do your parents want to meet me?  It’s not exactly like we’re going steady or anything.”

Doug sighed, “Well, I guess that’s my fault because I called them after I got home on Sunday and was telling them about all the neat people I met over the weekend.  My Mother, called Uncle Howie and found out that he was very favorably impressed by you.  My parents decided that they wanted to decide for themselves.”

Doug continued, “Autumn, I need to do my preparations for my classes tomorrow.  I’ll call you tomorrow night.  Sleep tight.”

The phone went dead and I was standing there holding the receiver thinking the world has gone bananas.

Spring came in and started to talk, “Autumn, do you want me to enter you into the competition this weekend?  I need to take the entry forms to the office tomorrow.”

I looked at her and shook my head, “Spring, I’ll enter the competition because Doug says we have to beat you, Trevor and Trent.  Did you know that Mr. Nixon had moved in with Mr. Willingham?  Doug’s parents are coming this weekend to check me out to see if I would be a proper filly for their son.  Oh by the way, Austin and Derek are planning to stay with us this weekend.”

Spring looked at me,  “Autumn, what wound you up?  Trevor called while you were in your room and said that his Dad and Granddad had both moved out.  One of us should probably stop by to talk to Leonora to see how she’s doing.”

She paused, “Why would Doug’s parents be checking you out when you have only just met him?  That doesn’t make any sense unless they are wanting to get rid of him for some reason.”

She wasn’t finished, “Why are Austin and Derek staying here when the Nixons have the big house and have lot of empty rooms now that everyone has moved out?”

I looked at Spring, “I’m just as confused as you are.  Maybe, I can get some straight answer from Doug when he calls tomorrow night.  Do you think we should get Trevor a birthday gift even though Leonora said that invitees had been instructed to not bring gifts?”

Spring frowned, “Autumn, what are you talking about?  I haven’t heard anything about a birthday party.”

I shrugged my shoulders, “I guess we haven’t really had time to talk about it since you didn’t get back until late Sunday night.  We really haven’t had much of an opportunity to visit since then.  Leonora invited us to a surprise birthday party for Trevor on Sunday at two o’clock.”

When I told Spring about what had happened on Sunday she started to really laugh, “You mean you drove the whole way to Chattanooga for lunch?  I hope it was worth the drive.”

When I told her about our discussion of being gay and gay genes, she was practically rolling on the floor because she was laughing so hard.  She sputtered, “Autumn, for a psych major, your sense of logic is a little warped.”

I decided to go back to bed, “I’ll leave the money for the entry fee on the table in the morning when I leave.  I have a staffing before school starts in the morning.  I’ll stop and visit Leonora on the way home tomorrow night since I don’t have anything on the schedule as of yet.  See you after track practice tomorrow.”

When I crawled into bed. I was having a difficult time going to sleep.  My mind kept reviewing everything that had been happening.  I really didn’t feel at all rested when the alarm sounded.

I didn’t even check the horses so I left Spring a note to tell her that she needed to take care of them and left a check with the entry fee registration.

The day finally ended, and I stopped at Fairacres on my way home.  I noticed that Mr. Nixon the third’s truck was parked in front of the house.  I saw Leonora at the stable area.  I started to walk toward her and she saw me, “Hi Autumn, what brings you here?  I'll be right there.  I just finished out here for the day.  I need to find us something for dinner.”

She took me into the kitchen and offered me a glass of iced tea.  “Autumn, is something wrong?”

I decided to not to beat around the bushes, “Leonora, to be honest with you, Spring and I thought that perhaps you might want to talk to someone in light of everything that  has been happening in the last couple of weeks.  We heard that the two Mr. Nixons had moved out.  I was surprised to see Mr. Nixon’s truck in front of the house.”

“Autumn, we’re going to operate the farm just as before.  Rob will be here just as if he was going to work especially during the week.  We sat down and discussed the situation with Howie, Trevor and Trent.  We are not even going to get divorced in order to protect the boys from unnecessary stress.”

“When I told Rob and Howie your logic about why Trent and Trev weren’t going to be gay, they almost went to the bathroom in their jeans.”

Our conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Trent and Trevor, “Hi Miss Autumn and Mom.”

Trevor started in on me, “We stopped to register for the competition on Saturday and we saw that you, Miss Spring and Mr. Doug were registered to compete.  I’m sure you’re all out to keep me from winning.  I may have to withdraw.”

I snickered, “That’s what we’re counting on.”

Trevor glared, “I suppose Mr. Christiansen will be staying at your house this weekend.”

I shook my head no, “Nope, he and his parents are going to be staying at Mr. Willingham’s.  Derek and Austin are going to staying at our house.”

All three of the Nixons had funny looks on their faces.  Trent asked, “Did something happen that would cause Mr. Doug’s parents to come for a visit so quickly.  I mean, you’ve only known him for approximately five days.”

I was enjoying this encounter, “Actually, they used the excuse that they were coming to check out your Dad and Mr. Willingham.”

A strange voice interrupted, “That’s not the story that Howie and I were told.  Autumn, you’d better be on your best behavior.  Hi, sons.  Hope you had a good day.  Leonora, I’ll see you tomorrow.  I have some things in town that I need to take care of.”

Trevor spoke, “Hi and goodbye, Dad.  See you tomorrow.”

Trent walked his father outside.  I saw the two of them standing and talking in the driveway and Mr. Nixon was nodding yes.

When Trent returned, I looked at the clock, “I need to get home and take care of the horses.  See you all later.”

I went to change clothes and the phone started to ring.  I thought to myself, ‘Why is Doug calling at this hour?’

“Good afternoon, this is Autumn Summers.  How may I help you?”

“Autumn, this is Adrian.  Is Spring there?”

“I’m sorry Adrian.  She hasn’t gotten home from track practice yet.”

“Autumn, tell Spring that I’m in D. C. on TDY and have a long weekend off.  I want to check to see if I can come down to spend the weekend with you all.”

“Adrian, of course you can come stay with us.  Spring should be here about six.”

“Autumn, tell Spring that I’ll call her about nine o’clock.  I have to go to a dinner and presentation this evening.”

I laughed, “She’ll probably be pacing in front of the phone biting her fingernails waiting for you to call.  I’ll make sure she’s awake.  Enjoy your dinner.”

I finished changing clothes and started a casserole that Spring had fixed before she left for school and went to check on the horses.  I had just finished taking care of them when Spring pulled up.  I decided to dramatize what was going to happen.

“Oh Spring dahlin’, I had the strangest call when I got home,  It seems this strange man wants to come and spend the weekend with us.  He said he had heard some wonderful things about you.  He said he would call back about nine o’clock tonight to check with you to make sure you’re going to be available to show him a good time this weekend since I already have a date.”

Spring got this funny look on her face, “Autumn, what have you been drinking.  Why would a strange man want to come and spend the weekend with us?   Did this strange man have a name?”

I scrunched my face as if I was trying to recall, “I believe he said his name was Adrian.”

“Autumn, you’ve have to be drunk.  Adrian is in Iraq.”

“Nu uh, he’s in Washington, D. C.  He had to go to a dinner and presentation this evening and said he would call you about 9:00.”

As we were eating, Spring started, “Autumn, we have to clean the house.  You need to call Austin and Derek and tell them they need to stay at Fairacres or someplace.  I won’t be able to be in the competition on Saturday.”

I put up my hand, “Spring, you’re acting like a young teenager.  Let’s take care of one thing at a time.  We can clean the house tomorrow evening.  I’ll call Leonora and see if Austin and Derek can stay at Fairacres.  As far as the competition, Adrian might enjoy watching you get your butt whipped.”

That was all it took to get a reaction from Spring, “Autumn, you just laid down the gauntlet.  I’m sure that when I tell Adrian what you said, he’ll insist that I compete.”

After the dishes were done Spring went and stripped the bed in the guest bedroom and was cleaning the room and the bathroom while I called Fairacres.  Trevor answered and I identified myself, “Trev, I’m calling to see if Austin and Derek can stay at your house this weekend since Adrian is going to be spending the weekend with us.”

Trevor started to laugh, “Hey Miss Autumn, we don’t allow no queers in this house.  We just got rid of the ones we had.  Of course they can stay here if they don’t molest me and Trent.  Let me check with my Mother.  She and Miss Georgia are visiting on the front porch.  Be right back.”

“Miss Autumn, Mother said that would be no problem since they are bringing Aunt Louisa with them and she’s going to be staying here.  Just so you know, me and the Knight have been practicing and we’re going to show old people how it should be done this weekend.”

I was giggling, “I’ll tell General Beauregard what you said, and we’ll show you.  Talk to you later.  Spring is expecting a call from Adrian.”

I had just hung up when the phone rang.  Spring answered and handed the phone to me, “This is Autumn.”

“Autumn, my parents called just now, and they want to be able to spend some time with us this weekend.”

“Doug, please call me on my cell phone.  The number is 706-351-1678 since Spring is expecting a call from her fiancé.  Give me a couple minutes since my cell phone is in my bedroom.”

I went to the bedroom and Doug and I talked for about ten minutes and we decided that we could finalize plans for the weekend once he and his parents arrived,  I had just gone down stairs to get my briefcase when the phone rang, Spring grabbed the phone and started to talk.

I couldn’t help but to eavesdrop, “Fantastic, I’ll pick you up at Hartsfield International at 12:30.  I’ll take a personal day.  When do you have to be back in D.C.? … Great, we’ll be able to make an appearance at Trevor’s birthday party before we have to leave for the airport. … See you Friday.”

Spring turned to me, “I’m so excited that I will get to see Adrian.  He said I was to compete and show you all who was going to kick whose butts.  We sure have a strange conglomeration of friends all of sudden.  I need to go to bed.”

I wanted to say, ‘Hey lady, join the crowd but I still have some work to do.”

To be continued... 
 

Feedback always welcome:      

Editor's Notes: I'm glad we are finally going to meet Adrian.  Spring sure seems to be excited. I wonder who will win the competition.

I liked this story right from the beginning, but like all the other stories that E Walk writes, it just keeps getting better with each new chapter.  I am certainly ready for more.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 01/30/09